If the Aam Aadmi Sena further dented its image by resorting to yet another ink-attack without much substance, the Aam Aadmi Party didn’t do any good to its reputation either. By claiming that the attack could be a dress rehearsal to assassinate Arvind Kejriwal in the future by using a gun or a bomb, former newsman and AAP leader, Ashutosh, has shown extreme lack of wisdom. He exploited the incident and overplayed its significance, targeting political opponents with baseless, speculative allegations. He claims BJP was behind the attack because the party couldn’t digest the success of the odd-even scheme. Ashutosh can be a drama-queen.

Allegations have been levelled against Delhi Police by AAP members, even by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. These are misconceived and unfounded simply because there is no proof. Public statements should not be made without proper understanding of the matter, without investigation, or even prima-facie evidence. It only reduces credibility, like it continues to do so in his case.

Be that as it may, the AAS is turning from bad to worse, exposing its dwindling significance. Composed of disgruntled AAP volunteers, AAS has only 113 followers on its twitter account, which has been inactive for a long time now.

As soon as Kejriwal started speaking at the function on Sunday, the woman, identified as Bhavna Arora, started shouting about a “CNG scam” – an alleged nexus of false CNG stickers distributed to diesel vehicles in the city so that they could flout the odd-even scheme restrictions. Cars running on CNG were exempt during the 15-day trial period. She then threw a set of CDs and some papers on the stage, before hurling ink at Kejriwal.

The leader of the Punjab unit of the splinter group is not the first one to route grievance through destructive means. Headed by Prabhat Kumar, AAS has behaved brazenly in the past as well.

Ms Arora launched a protest against Kejriwal in April 2015 in New Delhi after a farmer named Gajendra Singh committed suicide during one of Kejriwal’s rallies. She said the Delhi CM was responsible. Quite ridiculous and non-sensical it was back then, too.

Again in April 2014, the AAS members burnt an effigy of Arvind Kejriwal and urged the people of Delhi to press NOTA button while voting for Lok Sabha members. The AAS Mahila Morcha also launched a protest outside Kejriwal’s residence in April 2015, demanding deployment of marshals in DTC buses and to fulfil their promise of working on women’s security in the state.

Coming back to Sunday’s attack, the Police sprang into action, immediately surrounding Kejriwal, with a few of them pinning the woman down. The benevolent CM asked the security to let her go, saying that whenever something good happens in Delhi, such unfortunate things happen too! It is commendable that Arvind Kejriwal remained unfazed by the sudden attack and decided to keep his calm.

About the author

Rubi

Whether it’s women issues, politics or the paranormal, Rubi has an opinion on everything. Art and entertainment interest her, too. Hindu College alumni, she has written for The Hindustan Times and The Financial Express. Every now and then, she loves picking up her camera to capture life and its various shades.